The type of movable door mounting assemblies herein contemplated are the type that mount the door for movement along a horizontally extending track mounted in the door opening. Preferably, the track is along the upper extent of the door opening and the movable door mounting assembly serves to suspend the door from the track.
These assemblies are used with two different types of door installations as, for example, in sliding door installations and folding door installations. For twin or dual sliding door installations, two separate assemblies are provided at opposite sides of the door. In a folding door installation, a single centrally located assembly serves to mount the central portion of an outer door panel which is hinged along one side to an adjacent pivoting door panel. In this case, the door mounting assembly must also support the door for pivotal movement about a central vertical axis as well as for movement along the track.
Prior art assemblies of this type usually embody two cooperating assemblies; namely, an upper carriage assembly which is movable along the track and a lower door mounted assembly which is fixed to the upper portion of the door. The two separate assemblies include cooperating structure enabling the two assemblies to the coupled together and, in most instances, to be decoupled as well.
Efforts have been made to simplify the two assemblies and the structure by which they can be coupled and decoupled. Examples are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,813,728 and 4,945,605. In these simplistic arrangements, coupling is accomplished by simply moving a headed element on one of the assemblies through a horizontally open slot in the other assembly. The problem with these simplistic arrangements is that that can be moved in the opposite direction to the direction of coupling movement to decouple resulting in unwanted decoupling when such opposite direction movement is inadvertently effected.
Where the slot opens laterally, it becomes necessary in order to effect coupling to first lift the door up and to align it with the laterally open slot and then move the door laterally so that the headed member enters the slot. In sliding door installations, the facings applied to the door opening can serve as a stop. While this may be an advantage in preventing unwanted lateral decoupling movement in sliding door installation, it is a disadvantage if the facings must be installed after the door is installed because a lateral movement is required in order to effect the door installation. Even worse, if it should become necessary to remove the door after installation, the facings must be first taken down to remove the door and, of course, replaced after the door has been reinstalled. The above-described advantage from the standpoint of preventing inadvertent decoupling and disadvantages from the standpoint of facing installation inconvenience may not be present in a folding door installation, but it is important from an inventory point of view that movable door mounting assemblies of type herein contemplated be capable of operating effectively in either type of installation.
Whether or not the installation is sliding or folding has a great deal to do with the facings which are applied to the door opening within which the door moves. The facings in the folding installation cannot come down below the upper edge of the door because the door must turn within the opening. On the other hand, with a sliding door the facings can come below the upper edge of the door and it is desirable to do so. In the case of a sliding door, these facings effectively prevent the upper portion of the door from moving laterally to any appreciable extent.
It has also been proposed to provide assemblies of the simplistic type with manually actuated locking mechanisms. Examples of assemblies of this type are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,479,682 and 3,829,929. These installations still require lateral movement of the door to effect installation and, hence, after mounting facings.
As indicated above, it is highly desirable to be able to install and remove the door without regard to the installation of the facings for the door opening. It is also desirable to simplify the movements of the door required for installation and for release when the door is to be removed.
Applicants have found that these desirable characteristics can best be obtained by providing cooperating assemblies that can be coupled by moving the door upwardly from a vertically aligned position below the track and that release can be simplified if the only movement required of the door is down.